This isn't a game trying to reinvent the wheel, but rather one that's just trying to roll along. And if that's what you're looking for, it's a blast.

While not perfect, it's immensely playable and just a bit more fun than its rival. Who woulda thunk it?

But the battles are the heart of this game, and despite a steep learning curve, they’re strategy-filled, immensely deep and visually stunning. If you missed it the first time around, there’s no reason to ignore Yggdra Union again.

By, far, the most notable edition to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is the plethora of new characters. If that sounds like it won’t float your boat, odds are the other minor features aren’t going to be the life preservers.

Don’t be turned off by the difficult controls right away. Once you get used to the steering and can take the corners, FlatOut 2 is an awesome racer with enough destruction and mayhem to last you awhile.

Missing features are balanced out by excellent additions, but if you want the world to see your work, stick to the Wii U version.

Hammerin' Hero is notably short, and the action rarely diverges from the established platform template, but it's hard not to be won over by the humorous scenarios and vibrant personalities of the characters (accentuated by excellent voice acting).

Though Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 doesn't offer anything approaching a revolution in golfing, whether you play your way to the ranked online leaderboards, or just hammer it out with a buddy on the same system, it's truly a pleasure from start to finish.

Sure, its characters may not be all that convincing, and its multiplayer is more a well-crafted distraction than a long-term destination, but the game as a whole contains plenty of unexpected surprises that make it worth your time.

Rainbow Six Extraction is a neat standalone follow-up to Siege's Outbreak mode of 2018 – it has potential but is yet to fully realise it.

Darwin's Paradox is a charming and good-natured adventure that struggles to stand out in the puzzle-platformer genre. Octopus abilities are a nice idea, but ultimately add little to this simplistic adventure that often feels like it's treading water.

While it doesn't feel as vital as Battlefields past, inventive new multiplayer modes and a fresh, if slightly unfocused campaign make Hardline the worthy TV spin-off to DICE’s big budget blockbusters.

Not everything works well in Chorus, but its inventive, hectic space shootouts deserve to have their praises sung.

Music is top-notch again, and the graphics are spiffier overall than in the last game.

And the world is huge. If it was more packed with opportunities for us to use those tools and stunts, this could have been a GTA-killer.

Easily the weakest Live Arcade game to come out in the past two months, but that's not to say it's bad. At such a cheap price, it's actually a pretty nice package.

And while the game has nice graphics for a late PS2 game, it makes the stunningly gorgeous Bond women appear to be stunningly made out of melting clay.

A charming mess. Yes, the unpolished gameplay can be frustrating and, yes, the storytelling can be silly. But as soon as we drove through the gorgeously stylized Paris – then jumped out of our nitro-fueled racecar to snap a unsuspecting Nazi’s neck – we didn’t care anymore. For us, the good overwhelmed the bad.

The customization features alone can have you spending hours playing with costumes and decorations. The races and events are thrilling and the rewards are gratifying. LittleBigPlanet Karting does an great job of mixing franchise's creative features and delivering strong racing gameplay to make one of the most adorable and enjoyable kart racers you can find.

Even if it's not quite everything we hoped, we're pumped that 2K football is back in action. Let the competition begin - again.

But it’s not quite slick enough underneath all those pretty visuals to earn essential status.

BandFuse: Rock Legends is a game with the technology to back up its great premise, but its flawed execution makes it a tough sell in light of its direct competition, Rocksmith 2014.

For fans of hardcore shooters or punishing post-apocalypse games, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is truly incomparable. Unfortunately, due to a litany of bugs, it's the greatest game you shouldn't play right now. Give it some time, and this will be one of the best survival experiences you'll ever play – but until then, only the series' biggest fans should take the plunge.

If you lost interest some time around the umpteenth GameCube iteration, or the woeful Mario Party 8, MP9 is a good excuse to come back. Enough of the old concerns have been addressed and the game is more focused than ever, marking a return to simplicity that reminds us why we loved huddling around those old Nintendo consoles in the first place.

The prototypical extraction shooter, Escape from Tarkov is a shooter I've been playing for the past decade and will be playing for years more. Sublime firefights and just-complicated-enough mechanics make this a great game to lose yourself in, but the immersion only lasts until you need to check the Wiki, which is constantly when you're just starting out.

Not as drastic a change up as its WW1 predecessor, nor as wild or wondrous, Battlefield 5’s deliberative design sidelines its strengths as a simulative sandbox.

Pirates has its moments, but we're ready to set sail in a new direction.

A solid installment for the series with a satisfying story and great multiplayer balance.